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HIGH ARCTIC EXPEDITION

The sights and sounds of the weeks spent working on an expedition in the High Arctic are as vivid on my mind as they were on board of the ship and ashore of the Arctic. I've been developing a framework for a new series of works about my Arctic experience: Polar self Portraits – the artist and the curious case of the vanishing ice caps. This journey considers the dynamics between the (perceived) centrality of the self and the (perceived) peripheries of the planet, the polar regions – and creates connections between them. This visual expedition explores the relationship of two iconic art genres: the landscape of the face – the self-portrait – and the face of the land, aka the landscape. How can we re-imagine the boundaries of classical genres in the context of climate change?

Iceberg Self

Given the urgency, relevance and legacy of this theme, I've decided to open up my PsP project, and to invite fellow artists to consider their interpretation. This theme-sharing is producing very different creative interpretations, entering into dialogue with my own work and each other. This focussed but varied visual conversation is creating further dynamics and potential to engage the theme, artists and the public around the world – in Greenland in the Arctic, at the British Antarctic Survey's research stations in Antarctica, a gallery in an old Watchtower in Croatia, at universities in Macedonia and Albania in the Balkans, in NY, Washington, London, a moated castle in France, and a contemporary art gallery in Asilah in Morocco, Africa.

To create a confluence of art, action and the public, I have designed flash mobs and land art installations.

16 Eng NW PsP pb eng landart and workshop

Teaching art workshops has included a broad range of venues from a variety of museums, libraries, schools and universities to art festivals, a 15th century inn and a moated château.

In the North of England, by the Irish Sea Coast and the Lake District, I worked to engage the public about climate change and art, through art workshops and pop up art, covered by the press. Arctic Pillows was featured for three months at Google's Port Authority HQ building in NY, by the Hudson River.

Forthcoming and RECENT work

The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger premiers in Chicago in 2019. I wrote the libretto, based on my play, and NY composer Karen Siegel composed the music. After Opera on Tap and The Composer Now Festival in NYC, the production in Chicago will premier the first fully orchestrated production. The opera is the outcome of many years of creative collaboration across the pond. Some of my Paintings and etchings inspired by The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger were featured as installation by Thompson Street Company during the performances at the Athenaeum Theatre of Chicago.

The 7th International Print Biennale jury-selected for shortlist The Glacier Strikes Back, my print inspired by my land art installation around the eroding English coastlines.

Cantata Corpo, my solo exhibition of paintings was featured at the oldest opera house in Italy throughout April 2018. "Bold set of pastel paintings" –The Florentine. I have been invited to return this year with All Things in Nature. My second exhibition opens in Florence in the context of Leonardo’s anniversary,

In 2019 painting triptych is featured at a group exhibition at UNESCO’s HQ in Paris, as a follow-up exhibition curated by UNESCO Andorra.

My work in England continues along vulnerable seashores, including the coast by the Irish, Celtic and the North Sea, the English and the Bristol Channel, and an Elizabethan Hall on England's glaciated Jurassic and Cretaceous land.

Drawing Britain: litmus test. International curatorial project about current perceptions of Britain by artists. Curatorial concept devised and project launched during Colours for the Planet UNESCO Andorra Artist Residency. Article published by openDemocracy.net.

Jury-selected artist representing the UK in the 2018 edition of the UNESCO Colours for the Planet Art Camp in Ordino, Andorra. My large-scale triptych painting featured at the UNESCO exhibition in Andorra, and will be part of the touring exhibition. Artist presentation in workshop format about Britain.

Who are you -- identity vortex, my article was published in July by openDemocracy. The article includes a recording of a poem of mine, Who are you, set to music by NY composer Hayes Biggs, performed by the C4 Ensemble. I have been collaborating with composers, conductors, musicians of the C4 Ensemble for many years, on many pieces.

Research in Florence, Siena, Assisi, Luca, and 'conversations' daily with Giotto and Lucretius; drawing the nature of things. The perception of the human body and its context swerved in Giotto's art, and his way of observing, thinking, feeling then rippled on. The ripples deepened the swerve through the work of other artists, communicating game-changing ideas. How can such a momentous swerve in art, perception and thinking energise the impulse to inspire a new swerve... this time in attitudes and perceptions of climate change?

Creating new work in two artist residencies in the depth of rural France: a farm, Association St Henri, in the Pyrenees, and at the Centre for Art, Science and Technology by the Seine. New paintings include the series La mere en fièvre, auctioned first weekend of September. Salut Sapiens, my site-specific installation, and Open Studio and exhibition walk-through.

My Europe, My Rights, exploring the notion of Europe and rights through art. Jury member. European Parliament, September 2017.

Spelling Semitic is set to music by Canadian composer, Suad Bushnaq. Premiered 5th July 2017, in North Carolina.

Press preview of Viva Arte Viva, Biennale Arte 57, meeting fellow artists and curators, participating in the OpenTable discussions, including one with Gold Lion winner of the Venice Biennale, Franz Erhard Walther. Giving a talk about curatorial work and climate change in one of the Venice art schools. Research in the earliest teatro anatomicos.

Adore Noir, the black and white fine art photography magazine published in December The curious case of the vanishing ice caps, one of my series shot in the High Arctic.

Polar self Portraits. Creatives without Borders video installation featured in the Arctic at the Ilulissat Kunstmuseum in September, the BAS Antarctic research stations, the Moroccan Contemporary Art Gallery in Asilah, the National Museum of Ethnography in Slovenia, and universities in Albania, Macedonia and Washington.

Il castello et la carovana.Publicengagementthroughart workshops, installation and exhibition in Milan. Invited by local organisations and the local council. Teaching a series of six art workshops for different age groups and skill levels. Exhibition including a series of digital art work based on photography I worked on at the local castello and carovana site, and an installation.

Artist residence on the coastline of the Aegean Sea in Izmir, dating back to 4000 BCE in its current form. I worked with artists from Turkey, the Balkans, India, Iran and Japan. My work included The Unbearable Lightness of Being series, curatorial work on Polar self Portraits, and a photography essay about life inside the ancient mosque of Izmir and Greco-Roman Library of Celsus in Ephesus.

ASL Residency at Vyt, in the company of deers at dawn and dusk . Open Studios exhibition.

International Art Festival in the centre of France, has Invited me as participating artist and curator for the third time running. Over thousands of people came to see the exhibition. Worked with artists from Grenada, Haiti, Russia, Hungary and France. Created my flash mob, The Sea in the Garden, with the public, and installed the exhibition Autoportraits polaires. Exhibition walk-throughs and workshop for local schools and visitors.

Solo and group exhibitions include exhibitions I curated at the British Film Academy/BAFTA, the British Parliament, the Royal Institution, Harvard University, Google, the European Commission, the National Centre for Creativity of Malta, the National Museum of Slovenia, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and the India International Centre in Delhi.